John 11:43

O the marvel! the ill-smelling corpse, even after the fourth day from death, He brought forth out of the tomb; and him that was fettered fast and bound hand and foot, He commanded to walk! And immediately, the dead man started up, and the corpse began to run, being delivered from its corruption and losing its bad smell, and escaping through the gates of death, and without any hindrance to running being caused by the bonds. And although deprived of sight by the covering which was over his face, the dead man runs without any hindrance towards Him Who had called him, and recognises the masterful voice. For Christ's language was God-befitting and His command was kingly, having power to loose from death, and to bring back from corruption, and to exhibit energy beyond expression. The use of a piercing cry, however, was altogether strange and unwonted in the Saviour Christ. For instance, God the Father somewhere says concerning Him: He shall not strive nor cry aloud, and so on. For the works of the true Godhead are without noise or tumult of any kind; and this was the case with Christ, for He is in His Nature God of God and Very God. So then what do we say when we see that He cried aloud in an unusual manner? For surely no one will degrade himself to such a depth of folly as to say that Christ ever went beyond what was fitting or indeed ever erred from absolute perfection. How then is it to be explained? Certainly the cry has a reason and a purport, which we feel it necessary to state. It was for the good of the hearers. Christ wrought the miracle upon Lazarus as a sort of type of the general resurrection of the dead, and that which was fulfilled in the case of an individual He set forth as a beautiful image of what will be universal and common to the whole race. […]

"And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice." Why said He not, "In the name of My Father come forth"? Or why said He not, "Father, raise him up"? Why did he omit all these expressions, and after assuming the attitude of one praying, show by His actions His independent authority? Because this also was a part of His wisdom, to show condescension by words, but by His deeds, power. For since they had nothing else to charge Him with except that He was not of God, and since in this way they deceived many, He on this account most abundantly proveth this very point by what He saith, and in the way that their infirmity required. For it was in His power by other means to show at once His agreement with the Father and His own dignity, but the multitude could not ascend so far. And He saith, "Lazarus, come forth."

This is that of which He spake, "The hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." For, that thou mightest not think that He received the power of working from another, He taught thee this before, and gave proof by deeds, and said not, Arise, but, "Come forth," conversing with the dead man as though living. What can be equal to this authority? And if He doth it not by His own strength, what shall He have more than the Apostles, who say, "Why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?" For if, not working by His own power, He did not add what the Apostles said concerning themselves, they will in a manner be more truly wise than He, because they refused the glory. And in another place, "Why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions as you." The Apostles since they did nothing of themselves, spoke in this way to persuade men of this; but He when the like opinion was formed concerning Him, would He not have removed the suspicion, if at least He did not act by His own authority? Who would assert this?

The voice longed for Lazarus, its call freeing up the wings of the prisoner so that he rises up from the earth.

And to the dead He said, "Lazarus, go forth;" and the dead man issued from his coffin such as he was ere he died, having undergone resurrection.

The Lord, having given thanks to the Father rather than having made a request (for, as has been said, He had no need of prayer or help from it, because He is equal in power with the Father), cried out with a loud voice, one …

The voice which roused Lazarus, is the symbol of that trumpet which will sound at the general resurrection. (He spoke loud, to contradict the Gentile fable, that the soul remained in the tomb. The soul of Lazarus is called to as if it were absent, and a loud voice were necessary to summon it.) And as the general resurrection is to take place in the twinkling of an eye, so did this single one: And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Now is accomplished what was said above, The hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. (5:25)

When he had said these things, etc. The preambles to the wondrous raising of Lazarus have been set forth; here are set forth the concomitants and consequences. First is set forth the powerful calling of Lazarus himself. The authoritative calling of Lazarus is indicated in …

(iv. Moral. c. xxix.) The maiden is restored to life in the house, the young man outside the gate, Lazarus in his grave. She that lies dead in the house, is the sinner lying in sin: he that is carried out by the gate is the openly and notoriously wicked. (v. Moral.) And one there is who lies dead in his grave, with a load of earth upon him; i. e. who is weighed down by habits of sin. But the Divine grace has regard even unto such, and enlightens them. (xxii. Moral.) Lazarus is bid to come forth, i. e. to come forth and condemn himself with his own mouth, without excuse or reservation: that so he that lies buried in a guilty conscience, may come forth out of himself by confession.

This is well signified by that resurrection of the man dead four days, which demonstrates that the Lord first called and gave life to the dead man, saying: "Lazarus, come forth"; and afterward he who had come forth alive was loosed by the disciples, as it is written: "And when he who had been bound with wrappings had come forth, then he said to the disciples: Loose him, and let him go." Behold, the disciples loose him now living, whom the Master had raised from the dead. For if the disciples had loosed Lazarus while dead, they would have shown forth a stench rather than power. From this consideration it must be observed that we ought to loose through pastoral authority those whom we recognize our Author vivifies through resurrecting grace. This vivification, indeed, before the work of righteousness is already recognized in the very confession of sin. Hence to this same dead Lazarus it is by no means said "Come back to life," but "Come forth." For every sinner, while he hides his fault within his conscience, lies hidden within, is concealed in his own inner chambers. But the dead man comes forth when the sinner voluntarily confesses his iniquities. Therefore it is said to Lazarus, "Come forth." As if it were openly said to anyone dead in fault: Why do you hide your guilt within your conscience? Come forth now through confession, you who lie hidden within yourself through denial. Let the dead man therefore come forth, that is, let the sinner confess his fault. And let the disciples loose him as he comes forth, so that the pastors of the Church may remove the punishment from him who deserved it, since he was not ashamed to confess what he did.

1556 Now the Evangelist considers the raising of Lazarus; and he does three things. First, he mentions the voice of the one awakening him; secondly, the effect of his voice (v 44); and thirdly, the command to unbind the one awakened. 1557 The voice of …

Lazarus, Come out! It is the voice of the Lord, the proclamation of the king—an authoritative command. Come out! Leave corruption behind and receive the flesh of incorruption. Lazarus, Come out! Let them know that the time has come when those in the tombs will …

And when he had thus spoken,....

A loud voice - Greek, “A great voice.” Syriac: “A high voice.” This was distinctly asserting his power. He uttered a distinct, audible voice, that there might be no suspicion of charm or incantation. The ancient magicians and jugglers performed their wonders by whispering and muttering. See the notes at Isa 8:19. Jesus spake openly and audibly, and asserted thus his power. So, also, in the day of judgment he will call the dead with a great sound of a trumpet, Mat 24:31; 1Th 4:16. Lazarus, come forth! - Here we may remark:

These verses record one of the greatest miracles the Lord Jesus Christ ever worked, and supply an unanswerable proof of His divinity. He whose voice could bring back from the grave one that had been four days dead, must indeed have been very God! The miracle itself is described in such simple language that no human comment can throw light upon it. But the sayings of our Lord on this occasion are peculiarly interesting, and demand special notice. We should mark, first, our Lord's words about the STONE which lay upon the grave of Lazarus.

In many things our Lord Jesus stands alone as a worker. No other can unite His voice with the fiat which says, "Lazarus, come forth!" Yet, in certain points of gracious operation, the Master associates His servants with Him, so that when Lazarus has come forth He says to them, "loose him, and let him go." In the raising of the dead, He is alone, and therein majestic and Divine—in the loosing of the bound He is associated with them and still remains majestic—but His more prominent feature is condescension.

Jesus said, Take ye away the stone--spoken to the attendants of Martha and Mary; for it was a work of no little labor [GROTIUS]. According to the Talmudists, it was forbidden to open a grave after the stone was placed upon it.

PERHAPS the legitimate topic of this discourse, after such a text, ought to be the resurrection of the dead. Lazarus had died—he had lain in his grave. At the invitation of his sisters, Jesus Christ came to see them and His visit answered the double purpose of comforting the bereaved and restoring the dead. It would be a blessed and an excellent topic were we, for a little while, to dilate upon the wonders of the resurrection.

These verses record one of the greatest miracles the Lord Jesus Christ ever worked, and supply an unanswerable proof of His divinity. He whose voice could bring back from the grave one that had been four days dead, must indeed have been very God! The miracle itself is described in such simple language that no human comment can throw light upon it. But the sayings of our Lord on this occasion are peculiarly interesting, and demand special notice. We should mark, first, our Lord's words about the STONE which lay upon the grave of Lazarus. We read that He said to those around Him, when he came to the place of burial, "Take you away the stone." Now why did our Lord say this? It was doubtless as easy for Him to command the stone to roll away untouched as to call a dead body from the tomb. But such was not His mode of proceeding. Here, as in other cases, He chose to give man something to do. Here, as elsewhere, He taught the great lesson that His almighty power was not meant to destroy man's responsibility. Even when He was ready and willing to raise the dead, He would not have man stand by altogether idle. Let us treasure up this in our memories. It involves a point of great importance. In doing spiritual good to others—in training up our children for heaven—in following after holiness in our own daily walk—in all these things it is undoubtedly true that we are weak and helpless. "Without Christ we can do nothing." But still we must remember that Christ expects us to do what we can. "Take you away the stone" is the daily command which He gives us. Let us beware that we do not stand still in idleness, under the pretense of humility. Let us daily try to do what we can, and in the trying Christ will meet us and grant His blessing. We should mark, secondly, the words which our Lord addressed to MARTHA, when she objected to the stone being removed from the grave.

In many things our Lord Jesus stands alone as a worker. No other can unite His voice with the fiat which says, "Lazarus, come forth!" Yet, in certain points of gracious operation, the Master associates His servants with Him, so that when Lazarus has come forth He says to them, "loose him, and let him go." In the raising of the dead, He is alone, and therein majestic and Divine—in the loosing of the bound He is associated with them and still remains majestic—but His more prominent feature is condescension. How exceedingly kind it is of our Lord Jesus to permit His disciples to do some little thing in connection with His great deeds, so that they may be, "workers together with Him." Our Lord, as frequently as possible, associated His disciples with Himself. Of course, they could not aid Him in presenting an atoning Sacrifice, yet it was their honor that they had said, "Let us go, that we may die with Him," and that in their love they resolved to go with Him to prison and to death. Our Lord understood the fickleness of their character, yet He knew that they were sincere in their desire to be associated with Him in all His life story, whatever it might be. Therefore, when He, afterwards, rode into Jerusalem in triumph, He, alone, was saluted with Hosannas—but He sent two of His disciples to bring the donkey on which He rode and they cast their garments upon the colt. And they set Jesus on it and, as He went, they spread their clothes on the way. Thus they contributed to His lowly pomp and shared in the exultation of the royal day. Further on, when He would keep the feast, He expressly dwells upon it that He would keep it with them, for He said, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." He sent Peter and John to prepare that Passover. He directed them to the large furnished upper room and there He bade them make ready.

PERHAPS the legitimate topic of this discourse, after such a text, ought to be the resurrection of the dead. Lazarus had died—he had lain in his grave. At the invitation of his sisters, Jesus Christ came to see them and His visit answered the double purpose of comforting the bereaved and restoring the dead. It would be a blessed and an excellent topic were we, for a little while, to dilate upon the wonders of the resurrection. We shall do so for a few moments and then we shall come to the principal theme of this evening which will rather concern spiritual resurrection from a spiritual death, than that natural resurrection which is to take place upon us all, by-and-by. The very fact that Lazarus came from his grave, after he had lain there four days and was corrupt, and that he was called from the sepulcher by the mighty voice of Jesus is, to us, a proof that the dead shall rise at the voice of Jesus at the Last Great Day. Every Christian believes that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, but, unfortunately, the great Doctrine of the Resurrection is not, by most of us, made so prominent as it ought to be. In old times, the Resurrection was preached by the Apostles as being the sum and substance of the Gospel. Wherever Paul went, we know that he spoke concerning the Resurrection of the dead—and then, "some mocked." But now, usually, if we speak concerning the after state of the departed, we generally treat of immortality, not of resurrection. Now, immortality was known to the ancients before the Gospel came. They believed in a kind of immortality, but resurrection never entered into the thoughts of the heathen. Many of them believed in the immortality of the soul. Those who had been enlightened by powerful reason, or remnants of ancient tradition, believed that the soul did not die, but lived on in a future state.

He cried with a loud voice - In Joh 5:25, our Lord had said, that the time was coming, in which the dead should hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. He now fulfils that prediction, and cries aloud, that the people may take notice, and see that even death is subject to the sovereign command of Christ. Jesus Christ, says Quesnel, omitted nothing to save this dead person: he underwent the fatigue of a journey, he wept, he prayed, he groaned, he cried with a loud voice, and commanded the dead to come forth. What ought not a minister to do in order to raise a soul, and especially a soul long dead in trespasses and sins!